Kerry: Two-State Solution Being Blocked By People Trying ‘Take Over the West Bank’ For Israel

28 Dec 2016

During an interview on Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Secretary of State John Kerry stated that “the Arab world will not make peace with Israel, separate from a peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” and a two-state solution is being blocked by “a coalition that seems determined to build in the West Bank, to take over the West Bank, as I described today, for the exclusive use of Israel, except for some minor proportions that may be left.”

Kerry asked, “I mean, why are people fighting peace? What is suddenly in the air that people want to go down a road which is so obviously confrontational?”

He then said, “For years, Republican and Democrat administrations alike have invested in two states. … This has been going on and on. And now, it’s time for people to ask, why is it going on and on? What is it that is, you know, preventing this? And right now, what is preventing it, is a coalition that seems determined to build in the West Bank, to take over the West Bank, as I described today, for the exclusive use of Israel, except for some minor proportions that may be left. And that is something that we have to look at very, very, carefully, because that, — it’s impossible, as I said today, the Arab world will not make peace with Israel, separate from a peace between Israel and the Palestinians, unless there is a, you know, a stunning reversal that would, I think, not sit well in the Arab street, whatsoever.”